Jewish terrorist Jack Teitel convicted of murdering two Palestinians

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, a U.S.-born Jewish terrorist, was convicted of murdering two Palestinians and the attempted murder of two other people.

Teitel, 40, also was convicted Jan. 16 in Jerusalem District Court of premeditated murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms, arms manufacturing and incitement to violence.

The Florida native, who made aliyah in 2000, has been held in an Israeli jail since his arrest in October 2009.

Along with killing two Palestinians and attempting to murder five Jews and Arabs, he also assembled a package bomb that seriously injured the son of a messianic Jew in Ariel and set up a pipe bomb near the home of prominent left-wing professor Ze’ev Sternhell.

The crimes occurred between 1997 and 2008.

Teitel had been found unfit to stand trial about two years ago, but a year ago the court determined that Teitel could go on trial for murder. Last year Teitel confessed to the crimes but said he did not recognize the court’s authority.

The conviction said that Teitel was in full control of mental faculties at the time of the murders and responsible for his actions.

Teitel is a resident of the Shvut Rachel outpost in the northern West Bank. He has four children.

Marcy Oster Marcy Oster is the briefs editor at JTA. She worked at the Cleveland Jewish News for more than a decade and was a senior staff reporter before moving to Israel in 2000. She has won several awards for her writing from The Press Club of Cleveland, the Society for Professional Journalists, Women in Communications and the American Jewish Press Association.